Designing and Validating a new research methodology: learning through practice

This paper reports on my completed PhD research (Down, 2006) which investigated how educational practitioners were able to adapt and apply their knowledge and skills across different workplace contexts. One of the challenges in my research was to find a suitable methodology to use to validate an explanatory model which had been developed in the first stage of the research. Because the theoretical framework of the research was essentially based on the precepts of social learning theory, I needed to find a methodology which would enable my stage 2 participants to validate the model in a manner which was inclusive of contextual differences. This meant that the generalisations which they made in the validation process needed to be the result of the embedding of different contexts within one another, rather than the more prevalent type of generalisations which result from abstraction.Predictably, I could not identify an existing methodology which would do what I required. Therefore, I designed a process and a questionnaire which would provide the type of embedded generalisations I was seeking. This paper reports on the resultant methodology; its effectiveness in the research process; and the evaluative comments of my participants on their experience of using participating in and evaluating the new methodology.